Believe it or not I only just saw this. Have you found a place to ride? Living situation? FWIW, I have more suggestions for the former than the latter.
Contact Ferial Johnson at Ledyard. It’s in Hamilton/ Wenham, but she’s a terrific eventer and wonderful teacher. She doesn’t keep a school string but may know of a half lease. And Ledyard is, well, Ledyard. Some of the great old jumps are still there, and there are some newer complexes. They don’t host competitions, but there is schooling.
He’s not an eventer, but Jerry Kinney at Ascot Farm in Ipswich is a fabulous horseman, and he does have a school string (or at least he did last I knew). He’s in Ipswich, and if you have the chance to ride with him or anyone who teaches there you will have some great learning opportunities as well as fun. Jerry believes that riders shouldn’t just stay in the ring and his riders get to go to the beach, hack out, even do a hunter pace AIR.
You could try Myopia Hunt. A wonderful horsewoman, Samantha Stevens just became the huntsman, and she knows everybody. They used to seek out riders to keep horses fit for the hunt and did some lessons. Not sure what the situation is now, but worth investigating.
Glad you (maybe) found a place in Beverly. Look in Essex and Rowley when house hunting as well as Ipswich, Topsfield and Beverly. Word of mouth is the way to go: once a place hits the market, it seems it’ll be gone in a flash. Although there’s a nice little horse farm on the Hamilton Ipswich line that’s been on the market for a few weeks, just in case you have three million hanging around. If Beverly doesn’t work, check out AirBnB in the area. Sometimes people will do a longer term rental for less than the ABnB rate.
And yes: PM when you get here. Always good to meet a COTHer!
